Work Truck Love

Lots of pickup truck owners on here (you know, to haul our sports cars and stuff) and lots of good commentary on trucks. So who else likes basic, honest, plain Jane, stripped down, rubber floor mat, steel-wheel, painted-bumper work trucks?

Best truck ever was an Environmental Police Bronco I paid $800 for.

Vinyl buckets, rubber floors front to back, lever transfer case, roll-up windows. Loved that thing!

Here ya go: http://www.fourwheeler.com/news/1501-the-white-truck-firing-order/

Enjoyed my '89 Chevy 1/2 ton. 2wd, 4speed manual and TBI 350. Rubber floors, vinyl bench, manual window&locks. Oddly it had tilt, cruise and A/C.

I used to like stripped out trucks. They are cool in a no-frills, nothing to break, hose out the vinyl floor way.

Then I got a truck with cruise, cold a/c, heated leather bucket seats, a kicking stereo (with XM), and actual sound deadening. And then I realized it was soooooooo much nicer to get into a comfy, quiet, loaded truck to drive home after a loud, sweaty day of racing. Call me a pansy if you must, I don't care.

I used to... maybe 20 years ago, berkeleying swore by it. Later on I just wanted air, tilt, cruise. More later PDL, PW and seat upgrades. Why the berkeley would anybody ever need this E36 M3 in a truck. Then power seats, pedals, rear slider, heated mirrors, back-up alert, remote start on the '12 Sierra. FF to '14 Silverado LTZ, heated/ cooled leather seats, BU cam, tilt mirrors in reverse just like them hoity-toity BMWs. Start it from anywhere w/ OnStar remote from my phone, it's defrosted and warm when I get in. Ain't gettin' no younger.

Still have my '81 Silverado 4X4 tho, no rubber floor mats just bed linered, manual trans and t-case, locking hubs. Still love it.

I loved my 300 CID straight six 82 Ford F150. It did exactly what I asked it to do-- all for $1,200.00 Eventually the lack of interior lights, cracked windshield, broken door lock, and missing rear window took their toll and I upgraded to something more comfy. For a dirty, around town-- who gives a damn work truck though--- it was great. Dead stone simple and easy to keep running. It wasn't ever pleasant though.......ever.

2000 Silverado. Option list was four wheel drive, extended cab, and air conditioning. I wish it had cruise for those long tows, and power locks are kinda cool, but not really required.

When I bought it, I wasn't aware there was a 5 speed available. Still haven't seen another with a stick.

Mine is a step above the basic work truck. It's got cold A/C, carpet, cloth seats, cruise, PW and PL. I don't need any more junk on a truck, or any other vehicle. I like simple vehicles.

From 1971 to 1997 I drove "work trucks" because I wanted to. Had 5 different trucks and I bought them all new. My 1997 F150 was the first vehicle I had ever owned that AC and cruise. Now I drive a 2010 Transit Connect that did come with AC and cruise but not much else.

my 76 f100 was as bare bones as you could get. 300/3 speed on the column manual everything and i miss it. Both of my mini trucks are as basic as i could fine but are still loaded with comforts compared too the 76

My 74 REPU is about as bare bones as they come. It does have dealer installed A/C, but I don't have the compressor installed(but do have it). It is small, smelly, and noisy, but I wouldn't change a thing on it.

dinger wrote: I used to like stripped out trucks. They are cool in a no-frills, nothing to break, hose out the vinyl floor way. Then I got a truck with cruise, cold a/c, heated leather bucket seats, a kicking stereo (with XM), and actual sound deadening. And then I realized it was soooooooo much nicer to get into a comfy, quiet, loaded truck to drive home after a loud, sweaty day of racing. Call me a pansy if you must, I don't care.

x2, except after a loud sweaty day of work. or a cold hard back breaking day where my heated seat acts more to heat my back than actually warm me up.

Mine is a '98 Chevy Express 3500...ok, so it's a van, not a truck. No a/c, no power anything, no windows other than the front doors. I love it! It's very comfortable to drive, the 350 has plenty of power, the 1-ton chassis will haul/tow anything I need, and the gas milage isn't bad for what it is. I get 17 MPG with light loads, 12 MPG with a car on my 16' open-deck trailer, or a bit over 10 MPG pulling a fully loaded 6'-tall(inside) x 12'-long box trailer.

I can't play. My work truck says laramie on the side and it is a pretty dang nice way to travel. But for 10 years it was the 1970 f100 4x4 that is still parked behind the shop and that was just fine too at the time.

I require A/C and a radio. And that is all. Would also prefer 2 solid axles but that is a fairly easy issue to fix.

I did the stripped out truck thing for years. Column shift, manual brakes, no a/c. As you get older you begin to longingly look at those cloth seats and other features in your buddy's trucks after you sweat your ass off hooking up the trailer after a weekend of racing.

Screw it. Make depreciation work for you. $3500 for power, a/c, auto trans and a radio I can actually hear at 70 mph:

I felt like I was caving to the pressure of growing old but hot damn, I love driving this thing.

I did once - a '78 F150 4x4. I added a radio, but other than that, it was pretty barren. It was the XL model too, which wasn't even the lowest trim available in '78.

But nowadays, it's gotta have A/C and a radio or I probably won't drive it very often, which is bad for it. Cruise is fairly important as well as I tend to use it a lot in my daily drivers. My knees ain't what they used to be, so I even want cruise in my classics for when I take long trips. After an hour or so in the Mini/Spit/GT6, I can barely walk.

I bought my 1995 C1500 in 1996, and now I have 240,000 miles on it. I desperately wish I had power windows and an auto trans. And bucket seats instead of the bench. My a/c was broken for about a month this past July and it sucked.

I love it when I can drive my wife's luxurious Equinox instead of my truck. Once in a while isn't bad, but every day in a work truck for the past 18 years is too much.

In 2011 I was working for a road construction company and every manager got a company truck. THe higher up you were, the nicer the truck. Mine was as stripped as they could find on a dealer lot without special ordering something. It was a 2010 F150 short cab, short bed, 4.6L with cloth bench and rubber floors. It did have one options package that gave it cruise, power windows, and a basic CD player (and made the other bottom rung managers jealous) and it was dark gray instead of white. That was a great truck for simple stuff but the small V8 was just barely enough motor. It had a nothing tow rating.

If I ever do buy a new truck, though, it will have rubber floors. It may have some niceties as well, but rubber floors and cloth seats are a sticking point for me.

Had a bunch of F-150 4X4s, '77-'90, most 300-6s, vinyl seats and rubber floors. Park uphill, pop the plugs in the cab corners and hose 'er out. berkeley carpeting, it's a truck. Mud it up, hose it out. That was one of the best non-options ever.

When I was towing, bought a '90 XLT Lariat, sweet on long trips like 12 hrs. to NH. Actually sold this truck later for the sole reason that it was "too nice" for regular truck duty. Big mistake. Bought a base '81 K20 Chevy to replace it, rubber floor, vinyl seats, no A/C. It's a workhorse, no doubt but I began to miss the options, that XLT spoiled me.

My '89 C1500 had a 4.3, 5spd, no radio, no tach, vinyl seats, and a sliding rear window. I loved it, but wouldn't want to live without A/C again.

My '06 Ram Quad Cab is pretty stripped. Only options were the Hemi, 4WD, and 4 wheel ABS. It has the rubber floors, and I like that (it came with Husky Floor liners). While I can live without power windows, having to manually unlock/lock all four doors when I take the kids in it is a royal pain in the rear! To unlock the rear doors, you must open the front door on that side, and reach around to the rear door to unlock it.

At this point, I'm happy to fix power door locks and windows if they do break. Power seats are an option that I'm always happy to live without.

I can drive anything I want.

I drive a 2001 XL F250 ex paint truck with a liftgate every single day that I don't take on of the others cars. Roll up windows, vinyl, did get AC. Its about five different shades of red it has painters racks and looks like its been in a war. Not a single panel on the entire truck that is straight, man I love that truck.

Mine was/is an odd duck. It is white, when I got it, it had vinyl seats, and floors. But electric windows and door locks. I have since swapped carpet and cloth seats into it. It is also a K1500 with a 6.5L TD, so that in itself is just odd, I made it more odd by swapping out the 4L80E with an NV4500 manual transmission, so now I have 2 sticks on the floor.

Edit: In keeping with the work truck mentality I haven't washed it in over a year, this coming from the guy who washed his GTO every weekend